A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, February 7, 2020

Alaa al-Marjani has shot a picture that intrigues, with contradictions that unsettle what you’d naturally feel. Leaning back and looking relaxed as you are surrounded by flames is not the natural order, especially at a demonstration. The picture has been cleverly shot to give a realistic perspective of what is going on, the flaming tyres are either side of the protester. Had it been cropped to remove his legs and the background the image would have a completely different feel.  

An Iraqi demonstrator sits amid burning tires blocking a road during ongoing anti-government protests in Najaf, Iraq February 2, 2020.   REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani

Prior to the game, videos of a fan threatening violence with weapons including, knives, blades, a hammer and a chisel circulated on social media, so it was no surprise when trouble erupted. Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah’s picture wonderfully depicts the scene of chaos as police surround players and the referee to protect them from attacks. I like the contrast between the players’ body language, which is quite relaxed while the tension in the faces of the police is obvious.

Sudanese riot police control soccer fans during a match between Sudanese team Al Hilal against Egypt’s Al Ahly in Group C of the African Champions League at the Al-Jawhara Stadium in Khartoum, Sudan February 1, 2020.   REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah 

With people crushed, squeezed and cramped from foreground to horizon, you feel the claustrophobia in Shorky Hussien’s picture illustrating the fact that Egypt’s population will hit 100 million in the next few days. What takes a little while to notice is that you can’t see a single man anywhere in the frame, and that is because it’s a women-only carriage. Read on here

Passengers board a train at the underground Al Shohadaa ‘Martyrs’ metro station in Cairo Egypt, January 29, 2020.   REUTERS/Shorky Hussien 

You can almost hear the echo of the steps of a mother and child in Philimon Bulawayo’s picture from inside a hospital. Although it looks quite a dark and gloomy place, the happy swing of the child’s bag gives it a warm feel. I can’t help but imagine hearing the chitter chatter of the child’s voice over the cold footsteps. 

A mother and child arrive for treatment at a local government hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe, February 4, 2020.   REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

Siphiwe Sibeko’s picture puts me in two minds. It’s about load-shedding (power cuts) in South Africa, and instinctively I really want to the crop out the cold blue light of the phone bottom left to leave us with the warm glow of the single light source of the candle. But the story is about the lack of power and this single electric light adds weight to illustrating the story. What do you think?  

Nokuthula Thwala looks on next to a candle during load shedding in Soweto, South Africa, February 2, 2020.    REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

It’s the touch of the man on the body that gives this image the empathy I was looking for in what otherwise could be unfairly interpreted as a utilitarian burial process. Everyone is precariously close to the grave, the digger still in it. The man on the right is holding the body’s head with his feet, seemingly to stop the body rolling into the grave. What really strikes me in Alaa al-Marjani’s image is the strong circular compositional line of the mourners that draws us anti-clockwise into the picture and down into the grave past the obvious and slightly disturbing shape of the body of the dead protester.   

Mourners gather around the body of a demonstrator who was killed at an anti-government protest overnight, during the funeral in Najaf, Iraq, February 6, 2020.   REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani 

In Luc Gnago’s picture your eye is immediately drawn to the banner that is front and centre in the picture, because the eye loves to make sense of words in pictures. Cutting down the middle of the image is a post that should cut the image in two, but it doesn’t. The slight tilt and the words cutting across it prevents the post from dividing the picture in two. Once you have read it you are drawn into an image of ecstatic celebration, open-mouthed joy, big smiles and waving arms.  

Supporters of former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo watch his trial on screen in Abidjan Ivory Coast February 6, 2020. The banner reads ‘Gbagbo is coming, the reconciliation and peace too’.   REUTERS/Luc Gnago 

Temilade Adelaja’s picture just oozes warmth and affection even though it’s slightly messy shape, causing your eye to wander around. Smiling faces and a Tupperware presentation of food, the sagging sign ‘Veggie Victory’, and the roof supports all zoom you to the back of the frame, to the man tucking into his vegan food, yum. I like the daring crop of the woman on the right, right down the middle of her face, her one eye looking across seems to say to me ‘hurry up I want to get some food’. Read on here.

A woman serves herself to a plate of vegan food at a gathering for vegans in a restaurant in Lagos, Nigeria January 18, 2020.     REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja

I can’t decide if Satish Kumar’s picture reminds me more of the monster creation of Sid Philips, the boy next door in Toy Story or the sensuous character in Alex Garland’s sci-fi film Ex Machina.The robot is graceful in shape, its limbs extending out to conduct the orchestra. But the body then loses its grace as you look down towards the mechanics. Would it feel different and less graceful if the face was less feminine? Either way it’s a terrific picture of technology. See more here. 

A robot maestro leads an orchestra at the Sharjah Performing Arts Academy in Sharjah, UAE, January 31, 2020.   REUTERS/Satish Kumar

Mohamad Torokman’s picture at the protests is perfectly timed and perfectly shaped. The thrown rock is just far enough away from the arm to see it in flight yet close enough for it to be seen. The line of the wall and the smoke guide your eye to the action of the figure and his upturned masked face. The composition shapes and lines divide the image into the classic thirds. The richness and range of colour and tones also build the image giving it added depth; from the warm tones of the flames, the cool greys of the wall and skies to the dark shadows of the smoke.    

A Palestinian demonstrator hurls stones at Israeli forces as tires burn near the Israeli barrier during a protest against U.S President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan in the village of Bilin, in the Israeli-occupied west bank February 7, 2020.   REUTERS/Mohamed Torokman

A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, August 2, 2019

It’s very hard to single out one image from this terrific story on how slaves travelled through Ghana by Siphiwe Sibeko and Francis Kokoroko that marks the 400th anniversary of the slave trade to the United States, so I won’t. Very clever composition by Siphiwe, who makes the focal point of his picture the waters of the river. This is achieved by exposing for the highlight bouncing off the river and squeezing the figures into the bottom right of the frame. It takes quite a while for your eyes to adjust to the bright light before you notice the solemn group standing in prayer in the waters. Read on here.

Tourists gather at the Assin Manso river, Ghana, July 23, 2019. Near their journey’s end in Ghana, the captives were given a last, ritual bath in the river before being sold. Today the Assin Manso site is a sacred place of remembrance.   REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko 

Francis Kokoroko’s portrait is a powerful, proud image created by lighting the figure with a single light source so he appears to be emerging into the light from dark shadows. The light catches every detail of the proud lines on his face. Your eye is only momentarily distracted from his face by the red decorations on his hand and the richness of the cloth before returning to that wonderful face.

Nana Assenso, 68, chief of Adidwan, a village in Ghana’s interior, looks on before visiting the grave of his uncle, Kwame Badu, in Adidwan, Ashanti Region, Ghana. His uncle’s name Kwame Badu, has been passed down through the family in remembrance of his ancestor with that same name who was captured and sold into slavery.  REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko

A missile strike on a parade that killed more than 30 people created a devastating and horrific scene. Fawaz Salman, confronted by this horror, photographed everything. Many pictures were far too distressing to publish but this image, taken seconds after the blast, captures the chaos and violence. The dead and the injured litter the ground, and people choke on acrid smoke as others try to help. To show mutilated bodies and bleeding wounds would not give you any more information than you can gather from this image. Fawaz has shown enough of the horror of the attack without offending the reader with gratuitous and intrusive imagery of people’s suffering. This was hard to do if you imagine his ears were still ringing from the blast that could have easily killed him too.  Read on here.  

Soldiers lie on the ground after a missile attack on a military parade during a graduation ceremony for newly recruited troops in Aden, Yemen, August 1, 2019.   REUTERS/Fawaz Salman

What appears to be a peaceful domestic scene of a woman ironing while watching TV is not all it seems. Philimon Bulawayo’s thoughtful image illustrates the 18-hour power cuts that Zimbabwe is currently facing. The cold blue light of the TV and the single overhead lamp don’t look quite right in this warm domestic scene. On reading the caption you realise why. There is only power in the middle of the night. Read on here.

Cynthia Chabwinn irons clothes late at night after electricity was restored as the country faces 18-hour daily power cuts in Harare, Zimbabwe July 30, 2019.   REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

There is no escaping the strong shapes that create a rhythm that drums out a beat in Khalid al-Mousily’s picture. Lucky too for Khalid (one wonders how long he waited for that to happen?) that a boy is diving off the structure, frozen in a perfect wide reversed V, adding the extra detail needed to make this image work.    

An Iraqi youth dives into the Euphrates river near Norias (water-wheels) or as called in Iraq ‘al-Nawaeer’ in Hit Iraq, July 23, 2019.   REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily 

This is just a fun, uplifting picture that makes me smile. Upturned faces and applauding hands lead you into the picture. Then the bobbing orange balloons take you up and then back down to the sea of smiling faces. If Njeri Mwangi had taken this image an instant later, cropping even the tiniest sliver off the top balloon, the moment would have been destroyed.  

Workers at the DusitD2 Hotel celebrate during its reopening ceremony since its closure following an attack by Al Shabaab-affiliated militant group that killed at least 21 people in Nairobi Kenya, July 31, 2019.   REUTERS/Njeri Mwangi

Stunned migrants seem to stumble as they come ashore after being rescued from a boat that had overturned, killing dozens. It took me a while to understand why this image works so well. Then it hit me. Ismail Zitouny has used a low camera angle and a slight tilt to the horizon to create his effect. A sad and desperate scene that is out of step with the beauty of the blue skies and the clear warm seas. 

Migrants are seen after being rescued by the Libyan coast guard off the coast of Tripoli, Libya July 26, 2019.   REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny

This, in terms of composition, is a very noisy and messy picture. Your eye is grabbed by the green in the background and the letters LET’S REP on the black t-shirt in the foreground. Your mind is desperately trying to work out what it means. Half the word is missing, the woman in the middle distance is looking into the camera and there is a  truncated hand with bitten nails and old nail varnish on the left. It’s then the noise turns to silence and you see the woman saluting, her hand and face strong and still, held in silent respect.      

A woman salutes during the funeral of Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi in Tunis, Tunisia July 27, 2019.   REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi